It is presently common for individuals to utilize PDAs, such as the VISOR by HANDSPRING and the PALM PDA, or handheld PCs, such as the JORNADA by HEWLETT PACKARD and the CASSIOPEIA by CASIO. Many of these portable devices include an expansion port for use with optional external devices. Some companies are currently marketing image capture devices for use with these portable PDAs and PCs. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,118,485 to Hinoue et al. assigned at issue to Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha, discloses a card type camera that is used in connection with an information processing device such as electronic notebooks or other portable information equipment, personal word processors, and personal computers. In one embodiment of the invention of the '485 patent, the direction of the lens is changeable.
Additionally, CASIO has marketed the JK-710DC digital camera card for insertion into CASIO palm-size PC products. The JK-710DC digital camera card module is a small, light cylinder with a tiny lens in the middle and a CompactFlash interface on the bottom that plugs into the top of the Cassiopeia PDA. A cylindrical housing member containing the CCD lens can swivel 180 degrees. Recording is initiated by pressing the PDA stylus to the touch-screen shutter button on the display of the PDA or by pressing a silver button on the side of the PDA.
The currently available image capture devices used with a handheld PC or PDA device are not configured like conventional cameras and, therefore, may not be familiar to the user. Among other differences, the prior art image capture devices use the screen of the PDA in lieu of a conventional camera viewfinder. The prior art image capture devices additionally use a button or touch screen on the PDA in lieu of a physical trigger button on the image capture device.
Also, it is useful to have a status indicator on the image capture device itself that is immediately visible to the user or target of the image capture device, regardless of the position of the image capture device lens assembly.
What is needed is an image capture device that is familiar in operation to a user. What is additionally needed is an image capture device that includes a viewfinder on the image capture device unit that is accessible to the user when the image capture device is mated with the handheld device.
What is further needed is an indicator on the image capture device that is visible when the image capture device rotatable lens assembly is in any position.
These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become more readily apparent in the description that follows.